Butchery,
atrocity, disgrace, bloodbath …. For 25
years, these words have suffixed the name of the Islamic Republic regime. However,
even these words cannot properly describe the extent of the savagery and
monstrosity of the ruling reactionaries during the summer of 1988. Although
ensuing from the extremely vicious suppressions carried out by the regime in 1981, the massacres
of 1988
were, in themselves, so tragic, so savage and so cruel that sometimes even the
executioners carrying out these massacres were dismayed by them. Indeed, it is
still unbelievable! How is it possible to have taken thousands of political
prisoners in such a short period of time to the slaughter-house without their
knowledge while handcuffed and blindfolded and then murder them by lynching and
then transport their dead bodies in meat trucks and bury them in their clothes
in mass graves!? How is it possible to have set both prisons and prisoners
ablaze and turn dynamic living human beings into a pile of ashes!? But it is
possible for it had been done. Yes, under the rule of a regime whose raison d’etre is to protect the interests of foreign powers and
domestic dependent capitalists, any horrific crimes such as these are possible.

So
in the summer of 1988,
the Islamic Republic took the lives of thousands, nay, tens of thousands of the
most conscious, most decent loving human beings in our society who wanted nothing
but freedom and happiness for all. Do not think of these prisoners as strangers
among the people, no, you all know them: they were our friends, our relatives.
They were our sisters, our brothers, our children, our folks, our comrades.
Each and every one of them was a family’s loved one; our loved ones. Some
believed in communism, some were religious. However, they had one thing in
common: they were all freedom-loving human beings; they were the forerunners of
freedom. There is no doubt that the disgrace of committing such ghastly crimes
will always remain part of the Islamic Republic’s dark profile. Nevertheless,
it is important to ask why, indeed, the Islamic Republic committed such a huge
massacre during this period? What reactionary needs was the regime trying to
fulfill? The answers to these questions are not difficult: in fact, by
referring to the social and political circumstances of that period one can
easily understand the regime’s motives as well its objectives.

From
the very establishment of the Islamic Republic, our people expected
improvements in their living conditions and expected social and political
freedom in our society, considering their efforts and struggles and the
sacrifices they had made in overthrowing the Shah’s regime thinking that they
had fulfilled the anti-imperialist democratic revolution in Iran.
However, the Islamic Republic, which was no different from the Shah’s regime
and which had, in fact, been placed into power by the all-encompassing support
of foreign powers, opposed the demands of the people during each stage with a
different justification. At the beginning before it had organized itself, the
Islamic Republic, through the voice of its first Prime Minister, either
implored the people to be patient, or instilled the fear in them of a breakout
of “civil war” in order to foil their struggles. Sometime later, however, the
Islamic Republic revealed its true face to the people by waging savage
persecution and carrying out a bloodbath inside the prisons in 1981. Meanwhile,
during this time, when the reactionary war between the Iranian and Iraqi
governments was being waged, the regime was able to put off any expected
improvements in society til the end of the war. Yet,
because of the war itself, people were faced with such horrific calamities that
their struggles reached a scale that forced the pro-war regime and the
imperialists to finally end the war.

As
we know, the massacre of the political prisoners; the bloodbath of 1988, was waged
right after the Islamic Republic disgracefully accepted the UN resolution to
end the war. At this stage, the escalation of the people’s rage and disgust
toward the regime had generated a very inflammatory situation throughout
society and there was, at all times, a possibility for the emergence of vast
upsurges. Inside the prison walls, too, the prisoners’ combative and resistant
morale were quite high despite the truly hellish conditions. On the other hand,
the begrudged acceptance of the ceasefire and ensuing peace treaty had brought
about particular necessities: the Islamic Republic, as a regime serving the
interests of the imperialists as well the Iranian dependent capitalists, had to
prepare the ground for investments in order to rebuild the ruins and
devastation of war. Let’s think about this issue for a moment! In order to
profit, capital is primarily in need of security. At that time, the imperialist
media were, indeed, speaking of this with the outmost clarity and openly
demanding from the regime to establish “political stability” in Iran
otherwise investors would not go there. But creating “security” and “political
stability” under these circumstances meant nothing other than repressing any
righteous defiance and struggle and silencing any freedom-seeking voice
existing in society with even greater savagery, so that while the ringleaders
of the Islamic Republic retained themselves and consolidated the foundation of
their regime, they were able to guarantee the security and “political
stability” needed for foreign as well as domestic investment in Iran. This was
the reactionary necessity to which the Islamic Republic answered by massacring
the communists and other freedom-loving combatants.

Yes,
the administrators of the Islamic Republic were quite aware of the masses’ rage
and revulsion toward the regime and they knew all too well that, owing to the
people’s horrendous living conditions, the rise of popular movements in society
was inevitable back then. They were also aware of the fact that considering the
absence of a powerful revolutionary organization, the presence of known
combatants in a locality and amongst the people was a very effective element in
uniting and organizing the masses (organization, i.e., the very important and
essential weapon which our people have lacked and have thus been suffering from
throughout the years). The regime, therefore, made the physical annihilation of
each and every one of these freedom-loving and militant individuals its top
priority. Thus, a total genocide took place; the destruction of a generation of
conscious and militant women and men in Iran.

In
so doing, the regime, prior to the carrying out of such a vicious plan,
rearrested even those who had long served their prison terms and had already
been released from prison. Furthermore, since it was planned to exterminate a
whole generation, they began arresting Kurdish ex-freedom-fighters in Kurdistan who
had for some time lay down their arms and, upon receiving government amnesty,
had begun living ordinary lives. During that period, the regime did not release
any of its dissidents from prison. Those whose prison terms had long been over
were still kept in captivity and were so-called “nationally-wasted” (a term
that bares the disgraceful mark of the Shah’s prisons). They were all murdered
in the summer of 1988.

The
setting up of death committees; unfittingly called “trials”, was yet another
sign of the regime’s intent to physically eliminate all those known to be
freedom-loving militants. These committees were assigned to screening the
masses of prisoners in order to separate the ranks of militant and unswerving
prisoners from those who were either willing to collaborate with the regime’s
executioners in prison or who somehow fit the Islamic criteria, (of course, one
must understand that the regime even took the lives from those sellouts begging
for pardon). In carrying out their mission, the “death committees” assessed the
prisoners by asking them certain prearranged questions. The questions had
entirely political, ideological motives. The prisoners were not aware of the
actual purpose of these questions either. The prisoner would be asked: Are you
aware of the reason for your imprisonment? The prisoner would answer: I am a
Marxist; or I am a Mojahed, or I have no affiliation
with any political group but I do not believe in God, or I am not a committed
prayer-gore, etc. And that was enough for the Islamic Republic’s mercenaries to
write in front of their names: EXECUTION.

Right
then, when the regime was spreading the news of its atrocities in order to create
a fearful and terrifying atmosphere in society, it claimed that those massacres
were in response to the Mojahedin’s operation
“eternal light”, or what the regime referred to as the “MERSAD operation”.
However, regardless of our opinion on the aims and objectives of Mojahedin in that operation (and even if we find it
un-revolutionary), nevertheless, the above mentioned facts as well as other
unveiled truths concerning this matter all attest to the falsity of the
regime’s claim. Today, it has become evident, both based on the exposing
testimonies given by the survivors of the regime’s genocidal crime, and as
revealed by the bereaved and courageous families of those fallen political
prisoners who show up every year at their loved ones’ graves, which have been
given the title “damnation-land” by the regime, that exerting policies like
canceling the prisoners’ visiting hours and at the same time transferring the
prisoners from one prison to another, or the removal of TVs and the cutting off
of all connections between the prisoners and the outside worldin order to keep them unaware of the events
going on in the country, etc, had all taken place prior to the Mojahedin’s operation. This obviously shows that the
decision to exterminate the political prisoners and preparatory measures for
doing so had been made by the Islamic Republic way before then. One must also
realize that later on, some political currents in Iran and abroad, in order to
cleanse the dirty deeds of Khatami and the “reformists”,made attempts to blame the 1988 tragedy of the
massacre of the political prisoners solely on the ex-members of the Islamic
Republic regime, particularly Khomeini himself. The truth of the matter is,
however, that Khatami and the other so-called reformists participated either
directly or indirectly in the massacre and that the hands of all those
belonging to the regime are soaked in the blood of our loved ones. Basically
speaking, it is not a question of this or that faction, this or that cleric or
non-cleric official of the Islamic Republic. The issue here is, in fact, the
regime in its entirety as the enemy of the oppressed masses of Iran; a
regime that, should it remain in power, will continue the butchery, atrocity,
disgrace and bloodbaths.

It
must not happen again! It is our responsibility, each and every one of us, to
fight this regime in any way we can. In fact, any effort to increase our own
political consciousness and our awareness of what is happing in Iran
today as well as around the world would be a step in the right direction. This
criminal regime intends to dictate our future, the future of our sisters, of
our brothers, of our children, and in short, it intends to dictate the future
of our loved ones. We must not let this be so!